


A Different Return

by Ray_Writes



Series: Tumblr Prompts [24]
Category: Doctor Who, Doctor Who (2005)
Genre: Episode AU: s04e17-18 The End of Time, Episode Fix-It: s04e17-18 The End of Time, F/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-04-09
Updated: 2018-07-22
Packaged: 2019-04-20 19:14:27
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 12,672
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14267745
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ray_Writes/pseuds/Ray_Writes
Summary: When an accident brings Donna Noble back just before the Doctor's prophesied death, how might events change?





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Funny story, I was given this sentence starter prompt involving one character getting hit by another character's car, and then it sort of spiraled into this...already finished the second chapter and working on the third! Hopefully I'll be able to keep up with updates in enough time for you all to enjoy them. But anyway, please enjoy the start of this unplanned fix it fic!

The Doctor left the cafe in, if possible, worse spirits than ever. He tried not to blame Wilfred for it, yet the trick the man had pulled to place him nearly in Donna’s path felt like a knife to his hearts.

Probably he ought to be glad to know Donna was getting on with her life as best she could. He ought to be happy for her. But being barred from her life, on the outside looking in like a window of glass was permanently between them, was the very last place he wanted to be. Though he only had himself to blame for being in such a predicament.

Better she be living than dead, he reasoned. Only one of them needed to face that inevitability this Christmas. His footsteps took him on a winding path back to the wasteland, knowing it was vital he locate the Master again as soon as possible before he hurt anyone else, yet knowing how that altercation was fated to end.

Perhaps he ought to set his affairs in order first. Make sure the people he cared about were taken care of before he was no more. He could set Donna up so she and her fiancé wouldn’t be struggling to get by — though that would involve seeing the wedding.

That would make it real.

He didn’t realize when pavement had turned to road until the screech of brakes pierced through his thoughts. The Doctor had the time only to turn and catch a blur of blue before—

Funny how the mind worked, trying to shield itself from harm. The Doctor could not recall the next few moments, only that suddenly he was splayed on the ground with a sharp pain above his right eye and a dull ache everywhere else.

Gradually, he became aware that someone was talking to him.

“Hey, stay with me, mate. Can you hear me? Try to talk.”

The Doctor groaned something of a curse, then added, “I feel like I got hit by a car.”

“Er, yeah, there’s a reason for that,” said the voice.

The Doctor squinted up at a man who looked vaguely familiar as best he could with his eyes and his everything not wanting to cooperate. “Wait, I did?”

The man grimaced, but before he could speak there came the slam of a car door.

“They said not to move him. Is he still alive?”

“Yeah, Donna,” said Shaun, because of course it was Shaun and of  _ course _ it was Donna who now appeared in his field of vision. Well, her shoes appeared first, then the rest of her as she crouched down.

“Oh, my God. I’m so sorry!”

“And it was your car?” The Doctor was teetering somewhere between laughing and screaming.

“I swear, I stopped the second I saw you. I know I shouldn’t have been talking to Shaun—” 

“Yelling, more like,” Shaun muttered.

“Oi!” Donna’s hair whipped around with the speed at which she turned back to him. “Sorry.” Then she peered at him more closely. “Hold on, don’t I know you?”

“Uh, yes.” He shrank back, body protesting even that slight movement. “Coincidence. It happens.”

“Christ, he’s bleeding,” Shaun said. “Must’ve cracked his head on the curb.”

Oh. That probably explained why his vision seemed to be growing dark around the edges and the cold that was creeping into his fingers and toes.

“Oh, God!” Donna was crying now, definitely, that was her crying voice.

“S’alright,” he grunted. It actually wasn’t, but he’d have to hope she believed that this time. 

It wasn’t fair at all, he reflected dimly. Nobody had even knocked. Unless that bit in the wasteland had counted, but this seemed a rather anticlimactic and unrelated way to go.

The Doctor forced himself to refocus. He was going to regenerate likely at any minute, and he needed to be far away from Donna as possible when that happened. With great effort, he heaved himself half-onto the pavement.

“Oi, where are you going? You have to stay still!” She grabbed at his hands to stop him from pushing himself up to standing.

Then the hands started glowing.

“What?” She gaped at them.

“No, no, no, no, no,” he growled, yanking out of her hold. Only then he realized it wasn’t actually his hands that had started.

“Donna, what’s happening?” Shaun was watching with eyes even wider and more panicked than Donna’s.

“I- I don’t know.” Her gaze locked on him, as if on some instinctive level she expected him to have the answer. The closer she brought her hands to him, the brighter they seemed to shine.

Trouble was, the Doctor had no clue what was happening either or what was safest for Donna. He couldn’t just leave when she was in this sort of state; his defense mechanism hadn’t accounted for what appeared to be her own regeneration!

“You stopped bleeding,” she said, hardly louder than a whisper. “Right after I touched you.”

“Donna,” said the Doctor, though he hadn’t thought far enough ahead to know what to say next.

“Look, this is- this is mad.” Shaun had scooted back about a foot, and he reached for Donna’s shoulder. “Donna, I think we should get away.”

But Donna shrugged him off. She stared first at her hands, then at the Doctor, and there was something...something  _ so close _ to recognition in her eyes. It was at once wonderful yet terrifying.

“I think I know what to do.”

She seized both his hands again and the golden light of regeneration engulfed them both. He couldn’t let go even if he tried. 

The Doctor felt the fire, only like the last time before the Crucible and everything had gone wrong it just as suddenly cut off.

“What?” He looked down at his hands, still the same, then touched the spot where his head had impacted the ground. Completely healed, and the same head. “How?”

“Uh, I transferred the bit of regeneration energy needed to heal you, and we didn’t have the rest so you didn’t have to change,” Donna rattled off. “And why should you?” Her eyes narrowed. “You’ve got a lot of explaining to do, Time Boy!”

He blanched. “Donna—”

“Do you know what ‘no’ means? Cos you say it often enough, you think you’d have the idea!”

“You were asking me to watch you  _ die _ , Donna.”

“I was dying either way!”

“What the  _ hell _ are you two on about?”

They both jumped, remembering they weren’t the only ones on the street. It was a small mercy they hadn’t had any other witnesses, actually, which was probably owed to the last-minute Christmas Eve rush. He and Donna looked to Shaun, who didn’t seem to know what to make of either of them now.

“Oh, Shaun! Right! Um.” Donna’s eyes darted down to the ring on her left hand, then turned to him in clear panic. He supposed it wasn’t entirely convenient to remember the last year or so of space and time adventures right in front of her fiancé.

“Is someone dying?” Shaun demanded.

“Well…” The Doctor turned to Donna. He knew he was fine, but what about the metacrisis?

He brought his hands up to her temples, and she flinched away which he knew was deserved.

“I just want to make sure. I won’t do anything, Donna, I promise.”

She held his gaze for a long moment, then leaned forward to allow him access. He closed his eyes and entered her mind.

It was immediately clear that things had changed. He couldn’t locate even a trace of his own consciousness or memories. Just Donna. Beautiful Donna, alive and safe and whole again.

“You’re smiling,” she said, drawing him back into reality.

“You’re fine,” he answered the question she hadn’t asked aloud. “Completely fine. You must have transferred all the regeneration energy to me, which undid the metacrisis.”

“I’m me again.”

His smile only grew. “Yes, you are.”

With a sort of lunge, she was hugging him. The Doctor moved his hands from where they’d been framing her face in order to return it. He couldn’t believe this was real; this sort of thing wasn’t supposed to happen to him.

He’d been so sure he was going to die. How could he feel alive again?

“Seriously, could somebody  _ try _ to explain?”

They didn’t quite pull back from each other, but turned to face Shaun.

“I mean, he was dying, and then that light — and what’s a metacrisis — and - and you know him now?”

He decided the best thing to do was put it all out in the open. If this was indeed Donna’s husband-to-be — and his own feelings on the subject would have to be shelved for now — he had a great deal of catching up to do. 

“Yes. I’m the Doctor, Donna’s best friend.” He offered his hand for Shaun to shake. “Don’t worry that you haven’t heard of me. She sort of forgot I existed for a bit.”

Donna scoffed. “And whose fault was that?”

“Donna, I don’t understand what’s happened to you,” said Shaun, looking a troubling mix between scared and confused. He still hadn’t shaken his hand either. And people called  _ him _ rude.

Donna did extricate herself from him, scooting over towards her fiancé. “Look, Shaun, I’m sorry. But it’s like he says. I sort of had to forget most of what I’d been doing the last year or so because of, well, alien stuff.”

“Aliens? What, you’re not saying they’re real?”

“Oh, don’t tell me he’s had a hangover on Christmas, too?” The Doctor muttered. Donna reached back and swatted at his leg.

“Anyway, now I’m back to normal.”

“What’s that mean? I mean, you’re still Donna, aren’t you?”

Donna grimaced. “Well, yeah, but you have to admit I was a bit rubbish.”

The Doctor rolled his eyes. “Donna, you’re not rubbish. Now or before.”

Shaun was a bit slower on the uptake. “I don’t get it. You’re saying you’re not the same person anymore?”

It was clear Donna was struggling to see a way forward. The Doctor didn’t have any ideas either, not that he was particularly interested in helping the situation, but then his head tilted to the side at a sound in the distance that seemed to be growing louder.

“Hold on, is that an ambulance siren?”

“Yeah, I called one.”

He stared at her. “Donna, I can’t go to a human hospital!”

“Well, I couldn’t remember that, could I?”

“I have to go,” he said, scrambling back onto his feet.

“Where are we going?” She’d grabbed for his hands, and he pulled her up out of habit.

“Donna—”

“Well, I’m not stupid! You wouldn’t be here if something wasn’t happening, and you clearly haven’t got anyone with you.” She let her hands fall from his. “Unless you’d rather I not.”

“It’s not that,” he said, his eyes falling on Shaun who was only now regaining his feet. It wasn’t fair of him to expect Donna to drop everything for him anymore, not when she had her own life and relationship going on.

“Donna, I don’t understand,” the other man said.

Her expression turned pained. “I know. But this is really important. Like world-ending stuff.”

“Then why are you going with him?”

“Because it’s what I do. What I love doing. This- this is who I really am.” Donna took a step towards Shaun, but when her fiancé continued to stare at her like she was a stranger, she stopped. “Look, just tell the ambulance it was a false alarm, take the car back to my mum’s, and I’ll come back and explain the whole thing soon as I can. We’ll sort it out.”

He spotted the ambulance rounding the corner a couple blocks down. “Donna? Got to run.”

“Okay.” To his admittedly selfish relief, she placed herself squarely at his side.

“Donna!” Said Shaun.

“Tell my family I’m with the Doctor and I’m alright!”

“Her head’s fine, make sure to mention that!” The Doctor added.

Donna nodded in agreement. “Right! See you!”

They reached for each other’s hand at the same time, and, together again, they were off.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Guys, I'm honestly floored by the response this fic has gotten already. I sort of just started it on a whim, so to know you're all so excited makes me really happy. Bit of a short chapter this week, so my apologies. I'll try to make the next one longer to make up for it. Anyway, thanks once again and enjoy!

This was shaping up to be the maddest Christmas Donna had ever had. And considering Christmases past, that was saying something.

Well, firstly, she could actually remember what had occurred on that previous Christmas. And for another, she found herself once again running hand in hand through London with her mad Spaceman.

“So where are we going?”

“Away from the ambulance for now! It’s a lucky thing we got everything sorted before they showed up. I do not want to end up in the morgue again!”

Donna rolled her eyes, not even bothering to ask. “Ought to have thought of that before you stepped into oncoming traffic.”

“Well, you said you were distracted by Shaun, didn’t you? Sounds like two parties were at fault to me.”

She shot him a look. “I thought you were dying, you prawn! I felt bad!”

“Then why did Shaun say you were yelling at him?” The Doctor looked at her, his brows furrowed in genuine concern. “What were you fighting about?”

Donna’s gaze dropped to their feet hitting the pavement. “It was stupid. He wants to go all out for the holiday this year, but we haven’t got the money, have we? I mean the recession’s not over just cos America’s got a new president.”

He didn’t reply. Of course he didn’t; those kinds of problems weren’t a part of the Doctor’s world. She felt silly even bringing it up.

It was getting hard to carry the conversation being short of breath and all, so Donna huffed, “Look, can whatever the thing you were doing wait for a few minutes? I think we’ve got to get caught up.”

He sighed. “Yeah, alright. Come on, I know a place.”

They slowed their pace to a walk, though their hands remained linked. Donna was afraid to let go, sure that this had to be a dream of some kind and waking would cause her to forget it all again.

He caught her looking and smiled. Donna was glad to see it. Each time he did so, it seemed to take some of the lines off his face. Lines that hadn’t been there the last time she’d seen him. God, how long had it been?

He directed them inside a cafe, and Donna glanced across the street. “Oh, that is  _ so _ weird. I was just over there a little bit ago!”

Doing the shopping, totally unaware of anything greater going on in the world. She felt like an entirely different person now living an entirely different life. The life she hadn’t even realized she’d been missing.

The Doctor went to lead them to a table, but Donna tugged him to a stop.

“Hold on, we have to get something. Are you carrying any money?”

“Um, not sure,” he muttered. Before he could start digging around in his ridiculous pockets, she laid a hand on his arm.

“That’s alright, I’ll get this one.”

“Donna, you just said you didn’t want to spend unnecessarily.”

“A bit of tea won’t hurt.”

They reached the front of the line and ordered.

“And you two are together today?” Their cashier asked in a way that was an assumption.

“No,” Donna answered automatically. “I mean, yeah, we’re paying together, we’re just not  _ together _ , you know?”

A glint of metal on her left hand caught her eye as she waved it between them, and Donna was brought up short noticing it for the second time. She was engaged again.

She remembered the nearly desperate elation —  _ She wasn’t too old or fat or stupid. She wouldn’t die alone. She could finally see a way for herself out of her mother’s house. _ — and it felt like some other woman’s worries. 

She was Donna, but she wasn’t the Donna who had finished nearly the whole bottle of wine on their first date because her friends had always said she was a funny drunk. She wasn’t the Donna who had pushed herself into going back to temping even though it made her not want to get out of bed in the morning simply because he’d rather be part time than get a proper office job. She wasn’t the Donna who had cried and called his proposal the happiest day of her life.

She wasn’t the Donna that Shaun loved.

“I’ve got it,” the Doctor interjected, breaking her out of her reverie.

Donna took the opportunity to leave the counter and find a table. She sunk into a chair and placed her head in her hands.

Shaun. What was she going to do about Shaun?

“What’s wrong?”

She looked up at the sound of the Doctor’s voice. “Nothing. Just thinking. It’s a lot to process, in case you didn’t realize.”

“I’m sorry,” he said, placing her cup in front of her and taking his own seat.

“Don’t start. I’d rather be processing than wandering about without a clue.”

He gave a hum of acknowledgement but otherwise was silent. It was awkward, she supposed, finding their usual rhythm again. He hadn’t picked up anyone since to her knowledge, but he must have been trying to move on. Probably had been hoping she’d just go on back home with Shaun instead of tagging along with him.

Donna sipped at her tea and drummed her fingers on the table, and his eyes dropped to the ring there. She couldn’t read his expression, which was more than a little frustrating. What did he think about it? More importantly, what did she  _ want _ him to think about it?

That was her other problem, one that she didn’t want to think about too closely. She’d agreed to marry Shaun, completely unaware that she had once upon a time already promised the rest of her life to a different man entirely.

And the Doctor had said he’d known. Did that mean he’d known or guessed at her change of heart over their “just mates” arrangement as well? Was it even right for her to be thinking about that while she was still engaged to someone else?

The one thing he didn’t seem to be displaying was surprise, and Donna had a thought.

“Wait a minute. You know who Shaun is.”

He gave a slight start in his chair. “Oh. Wilfred told me.”

Donna narrowed her eyes. “When did you see my Gramps?”

“About...half an hour ago?”

“What, do you two just meet up and have chats now?”

“No. No, he found me. Still not sure how. I wasn’t here for that, I wasn’t trying to — anyway,” he said, his way of trying to dismiss what he didn’t want to talk about.

“So why did you come back to Earth, then?”

“The Ood warned me. They were having bad dreams, and so have everyone on Earth. You wouldn’t happen to remember, would you?”

Donna shook her head. The only odd dreams she’d been having were what she could now recognize as small snippets of their old adventures together, and since she’d felt guilty for dreaming about being with someone who wasn’t Shaun she’d been trying not to think about them much.

“Well, suppose it wasn’t a guarantee. Wilfred can remember his for some reason, so I thought maybe — but never mind. The dreams were a premonition, a warning for me to know something was about to happen here and I needed to come back. Only I was too late, and now the Master’s back again,” he finished, running his hands through his hair in clear distress.

“Okay, I was following that up until you said ‘Master’,” Donna said.

The Doctor blinked. “Oh, right. The Master’s another Time Lord. Not a good one,” he added before she could do much more than let her mouth fall open in shock. “Martha, Jack, and I found him at the end of the universe, and eventually he was killed. Or I thought, but he had a backup plan. He always does.”

“So from what I’m getting, he’s sort of like your Time Lord nemesis?”

He pulled a face. “It’s complicated. We were friends, a long time ago. Best friends. But things changed, we grew apart, had different ideas.”

“You found a better best friend,” she remarked.

That actually got a smirk out of him. “True. Anyway, him being back isn’t any good for the Earth. He sees humanity, or anyone, really, as beneath him.”

“So typical destroy-the-planet Christmas fare, then.”

He shrugged. “I’m not sure what his plan is. His resurrection, something about it didn’t go to plan. I think Lucy must have been behind it.”

“And Lucy is…?”

“His wife. Well, widow until he was resurrected.”

“Is she a Time Lady?”

“No.”

“Wait, so if humans are ‘beneath’ him, what’d he go and marry one for?”

“It was part of the last plan.”

“Why am I picturing a bloody Bond villain?” Asked Donna. “I mean, seriously, who goes around calling themselves  _ the Master _ ? Actually, why do  _ you _ call him that?”

“Well, it’s his name. He picked it same as I did. And really, Donna, it’s the height of offense in Time Lord society not to use a chosen name — nicknames aside,” he added. “Though nobody on Gallifrey really used nicknames.”

“Well, glad I haven’t inadvertently offended, then.”

“Now that you mention it, the Martian thing was a  _ bit _ rude.”

“And should we really be worried about being rude to the alien super villain intent on destroying the planet?”

“ _ Well— _ ”

“I’m gonna say no,” Donna concluded.

He shook his head, but a smile was spreading across his face. “I don’t think saying I missed you covers it, but I did.”

She couldn’t quite meet his warm gaze and lowered her eyes to her coffee. “Yeah, what’s it been, three centuries?”

“Three years.”

That had her looking back up. “What, really? But you look so much older! I mean, really, you look like death warmed over!”

“Thank you,” he said, lips quirked in a wry smile. “And to think if I’d known nearly dying was all it would take to fix things, maybe I wouldn’t look like death.”

“Oi, don’t even joke about that.” Donna pointed a finger at him in stern warning, but on the inside she felt a swell of fear. For the Doctor to have been so lost in his head not to even notice her car, he must have been in a truly bad state. She could only think of the Torchwood laboratory under the Thames, his unchanging expression as the water had poured in all around them until Donna had shouted loud enough to break through to him.

The Doctor wasn’t laughing either. “Donna, I think you should go home.”

“ _ What _ ?”

“Go and spend Christmas with your family and your fiancé.”

“Right, because that’ll be easy while I’m worrying whether the world is gonna end, won’t it?” She glared at him. “Will you stop trying to send me off for my own good? Cos we all know how that usually ends.”

“This isn’t a usual day, Donna. The Master is dangerous, more so than most anything we’ve ever been up against,” the Doctor said with just as stern a look. “It’s better for him to think I’m on my own.”

Donna was about to argue further, but a thought occurred to her. “Was he the one who tortured Martha’s family?”

He didn’t ask how she knew about that. “Yes.”

Donna didn’t say anything for a long moment. If she did go along, would she be making her family a target? But if she didn’t, what might happen to him?

“Did he torture you?”

“Donna—”

“Yes or no question, Doctor.”

He wasn’t looking at her when he answered. “Yes.”

Donna nodded to herself. “Then I think I’ll be staying.”

“Donna, please.” The Doctor reaches across the table for her hands. “I’ve only just got you back. If something happened to you because of me again, I don’t know what I’d end up doing.” He looked terrified just at the possibility.

“And you think I want something happening to you when  _ I _ just got  _ you _ back?”

“That’s not something you can change,” he told her.

“What do you mean?”

The ring of her mobile cut through their conversation, and the Doctor let her hands go and pulled back. Donna sighed when she saw it was her mum, but knew ignoring this call would likely only send her family into a panic.

In fact, she didn’t even get a word in, greeting-wise.

“Donna? Where are you? What’s happened?”

“Nothing, mum. Well, nothing bad. Actually, it’s all fine now.” She shuffled in her seat, half-turning to the side as she added, “Didn’t Shaun tell you I was fine?”

“He doesn’t know what’s happening! Said you ran off with  _ him _ .”

“You can say the Doctor,” said Donna with a roll of her eyes that hopefully could be heard down the line.”

“But how can you know who he is? He said it’d kill you!”

“Yeah, well he was a little wrong on that. We sorted it out.”

“Donna, tell me you’re not going off to space and all that again,” her mother begged. “Come home. We’re worried about you.”

“Mum, I’m fine, I swear.”

“It’s Christmas. You’ve got the wedding coming up!”

“Look, I’ll stop home soon as I can. This is important. I’m sorry. Love you.” She hung up before her mother could reply. “Suppose it would’ve been too much to expect she’d be happy I’m not an amnesiac — oi!”

She’d turned back to face him only to find she was talking to thin air. The Doctor had gone.

He hadn’t even touched his tea.

“Oh, you  _ idiot _ .” She wasn’t entirely sure if she meant him or herself. Probably both.

Donna stood and left the cafe.

He wasn’t anywhere to be seen when she looked either way down the street. Oh, he was in for it when she caught up with him.

Trouble was, she had no clue where this other Time Lord was or what he was up to, and thus no real way of knowing where the Doctor might have gone.

It wasn’t the end of the world. She’d found him before and she could again.

And she wasn’t the only one. Her grandad had apparently managed it just earlier today. If anyone might know something that could help her find the Doctor, he would.

It looked as if she was going home after all.


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Bit of a longer chapter this time! We are in the middle of my finals, folks, and I'll admit I haven't actually started writing the next chapter yet. I'll still try my best to get it done for next week, but if not I might just polish up one of the oneshots I've been poking at and post that instead. Apologies if that ends up being the case, and also if it takes me a while to get back to your comments on this. I really do want to thank you all so much for them, because they make my day. At any rate, I'm hoping you'll all like the conclusion of this chapter better than the last! Enjoy!

Wilfred could hardly believe it. After only just hearing from the Doctor himself that getting Donna’s memories back would be impossible, they had her back.

It had to be a miracle. A Christmas miracle! And only the Doctor could have managed it.

Shaun had stumbled in through the door about an hour ago looking absolutely baffled. “Donna’s gone off with some man,” he’d said.

“What?” Sylvia had nearly dropped the cake she’d begun preparing for tomorrow’s feast. It was the first year she’d felt like cooking so much since they’d lost Geoffrey. “You can’t be serious, Shaun!”

The man had shrugged. “I barely understood it. There was an accident, see, and we hit this man—”

“Oh, my Lord,” Wilf had gasped. What a horrible thing to happen to someone over the holiday! “Was he alright?”

“Yeah. I don’t know how. One minute, he’s bleeding from the head, the next Donna’s touched him and there’s all this gold light. Then he’s fine, and suddenly they’re the best of pals!”

“What, you mean she knew him?” Sylvia had asked.

Shaun shrugged. “I never got a name. He called himself a doctor.”

That was about when Sylvia had dived for her phone in her purse. Donna’s short conversation with her hadn’t seemed to calm her any.

“I mean, what was he even doing around her, dad? Anything could have happened!”

“Is he dangerous?” Shaun had asked. “She was talking about the world ending.”

“ _ I’d _ certainly say he is,” Sylvia had declared. “Everything goes mad whenever he turns up. Shouldn’t have been anywhere near Donna.”

“Well, uh, that was sort of my fault,” he’d admitted.

She’d rounded on him. “Dad!”

“Look, something’s going on, love. I can’t explain it, but we need him here. And, well, I might have brought him round to see Donna from a bit of a distance. It wasn’t his idea, Sylvia, but I knew he had to miss her, and I was hoping there was something he could do — and it looks like he has!” He’d looked around at both of them. “Why, we ought to be celebrating, not fretting.”

“I just don’t understand,” Shaun had repeated. “Were they being serious about the world ending? I mean, what’s she gone off to do, try and save it?”

“Yep, that’s my girl,” Wilf has replied with a proud smile. “And don’t you worry, Shaun, she’s done it all before.”

Now they just had to wait. The Doctor had been here for some reason, and now he had Donna back with him Wilfred was sure it wouldn’t take any time at all.

The front door opened, and Wilf hurried quick as he could behind Sylvia and Shaun to greet Donna as she came in.

“Donna, are you alright?”

“Yes, mum.” She darted a look at her fiancé and then began playing with a bit of her hair to avoid doing so. “Thanks for bringing the car back, Shaun. You didn’t have to stick around.”

“I’m still waiting for some answers here,” the man pointed out.

Wilf knew that probably ought to take precedence over anything else, but he couldn’t help noticing there was no one following behind his granddaughter.

“Where’s the Doctor?”

Donna rolled her eyes and moved past both Sylvia and Shaun. “That’s the thing. Gramps, I need your help. He’s run off on his own to stop this other Time Lord from destroying the earth or something.”

“What, without you?”

“Yeah, well he’s decided this time it’s proper dangerous or some rubbish. Did he tell you anything else? Where he might have been going?”

“No,” he said, wringing his hands together. While he was glad the Doctor was thinking of Donna’s safety after everything that had happened, he knew it wouldn’t be any good for the man to go up against whatever it was alone, not in the state he was in.

Then he had an idea. “I could show you where I found him.”

Donna grinned. “That’ll do. Mum, Gramps and I are going out. I’ll try not to put another dent in the car.”

“But it’s nearly dark!”

“Yeah, it’s called winter. Shaun, can I have the keys?”

Shaun hesitated. “I just don’t know if I like this, Donna.”

She pressed her hands to her forehead briefly. “I know. I’m sorry. But I need to do this, alright?”

Somewhat grudgingly, the man dropped the keys into her palm.

“Thank you,” said Donna. Then she slipped past him out the door. “Gramps, let’s go!”

“We’ll make it back for Christmas,” he promised a glowering Sylvia. Then he shuffled out after his granddaughter. She’d already started the car so he climbed in.

“It was sort of down by the warehouses we found him,” Wilf told her. “You know, where they’ve dumped all that rubbish and old building parts. Take the right here.”

She did so.

“What’s he doing wandering out there? It’s probably freezing. I’m telling you, Gramps, when we catch up with him—”

“Oh, I wouldn’t be too hard on him, sweetheart. He’s in a bad way.”

He wasn’t sure how much he ought to tell her, sensing that the near-breakdown that had occurred in the cafe was probably not something the Doctor was keen for others to know.

But there was one thing he’d mentioned that he felt Donna definitely needed to know. “He said he was gonna die.”

The car swerved unexpectedly as Donna turned her head sharply to look at him.

“What?”

“There’s some prophecy or something he was going on about. I didn’t understand it much. But he’s convinced.”

“You are  _ kidding _ me.” It was hard to tell what Donna was making of this news since she had to keep looking out the windshield, and it took her some time to continue. “Is that why he was so miserable? How does he even know it’s supposed to happen now?”

“He told me there’s someone who’s supposed to knock four times, and that’s the signal. Not sure how that means now, but it seems to me he’s just been left to worry over it alone.”

Donna shook her head. “Right, well first thing’s first, we’re finding out which bloody fortune teller said that rubbish and giving her a piece of our minds. Prophecies are nothing but rubbish. I mean, Dalek Caan said one of us was supposed to die on the Crucible, and look who’s still here?”

“Yeah, that’s it. Put a bit of sense back into him,” Wilf agreed. “He just needs a bit of cheering up, and nobody does that better than you. I told him myself he needed you.”

“Aw, Gramps.”

If he wasn’t mistaken, she was blushing a bit. He ought not to encourage it, her being engaged and all, but Wilfred knew perfectly well who really made his granddaughter happy. When he wasn’t running off getting into trouble on his own, anyway.

The last of the light had long sunk beneath the horizon by the time they made it to the utterly deserted spot. Donna parked the car, and they both got out.

“He was sort of climbing up and down these piles, headed that way,” he told her, gesturing further into the dark. “But I don’t know how easy it’s gonna be to find him in all this.”

Donna didn’t seem to be listening. Her head had tilted slightly, and her gaze was distant.

“Do you hear that?”

“Hear what?”

But then he did; helicopter blades, getting louder and closer. It passed over them high above, then slowed before shining a pair of spotlights down into the middle of the dump.

“Well, no idea who that is up there, but thanks,” Donna remarked. Then she set off, and it was all Wilf could do to scramble after her.

There was shouting and gunfire ahead. He couldn’t tell what was happening under the spotlights. It was too far off and bright still. He kept his eyes trained on Donna so as not to lose her. But he did notice the lights shutting off and the near-thunderous sound of the helicopter blades as it passed overhead once again.

“Should we follow it?”

He wasn’t sure if Donna had heard; he’d barely managed a shout as out of breath as he was.

A moment later, it hardly mattered. Donna gave a cry and put on a burst of speed.

“Doctor!”

Wilfred could feel his heart pounding somewhere in the vicinity of his throat. Had they been too late?

He caught up and found Donna knelt on one of the piles as she turned the Doctor’s body over. His head rested in her lap.

She ran a hand through his hair and then looked up, spotting Wilf. “He’s alive. I think they drugged him with something.”

“Oh dear.”

“Can you stay with him? I’ve got to bring the car round, cos we’ll never be able to carry him all that way.”

She hadn’t actually moved to leave the Doctor, and Wilf wished he could offer to go instead, but his eyes wouldn’t be too good in the dark. “Yeah, I’ll look after him. We’ll be alright.”

“Thanks, Gramps.” Donna slowly transferred the Doctor off her lap then stood and ran back for the car. Wilfred settled down on the pile next to the alien to wait.

“I hope they didn’t do too bad a number on you, Doctor. Whatever’s happening isn’t over yet, and we need you.”

It wasn’t long before he picked up the sound of tires. Wilf raised an arm to shield his eyes from the headlights, then heard the car door open and slam.

“Alright, we should be able to lift him into the back,” said Donna.

Together they heaved him up and half-dragged, half-carried him. He didn’t quite fit longways, and Donna set about rearranging his legs so they could get the door shut properly.

“You think mum will mind too much if we bring him back with us? I have no idea where the TARDIS is.”

“Well, she’s liable to be asleep by now, so it don’t matter much,” he pointed out.

“Right,” Donna agreed with a nod.

They got back in and drove away from the site. He noticed Donna’s eyes kept jumping to the rear view mirror, and it wasn’t to check out the back window.

The Doctor was still unconscious when they arrived back at the house, so they moved him inside together and dropped him onto the sofa. Donna worked to make the alien more comfortable while Wilf went upstairs to check for Sylvia.

His daughter was indeed asleep, but she wasn’t the only one.

Wilf came back downstairs and found his granddaughter sitting again with the Doctor’s head in her lap. She’d removed his overcoat and shoes, as well as her own.

“She’s put Shaun up in your old room.”

“Oh, brilliant,” said Donna. “Guess we’re staying down here.”

She hadn’t even taken a moment to consider. Wilfred wondered how he was going to break the news to Sylvia that another wedding looked to be off.

“You should try and get some sleep, Gramps,” Donna said. “If he wakes up, I promise I won’t go anywhere without letting you know.”

“Yeah. Well, you look after him, cos he hasn’t been doing it himself.” Wilf shook his head. “Goodnight.”

“Night. Oh, Gramps?”

He turned back around. Donna was wearing a tiny smile.

“Merry Christmas.”

He grinned back. “Merry Christmas.”

There was a lot they’d have to sort through in the morning, but they had Donna back and she had her Doctor back. To Wilfred, that was more than a happy holiday.

He would have had an otherwise peaceful sleep if it weren’t for that same bad dream.

—-

The Doctor came to in a mild confusion as to why he did not appear to be face down in the dirt of a wasteland as he last remembered, though not particularly offended he was not. And anyway, the reality of his situation was far more pleasant, if by that very nature even more unlikely.

He was lying on a sofa with his head in Donna’s lap and one of her arms slung over his chest. She’d snuggled into the corner of the sofa and looked to be fast asleep.

When he somewhat clumsily attempted moving, however, her arm tightened around him and her head lifted. “Whassit?” Donna slurred, looking about the room then down at him.

“Um, hello again.”

He tensed, waiting for Donna to rightfully yell at him.

All she asked was, “How are you feeling?”

The Doctor blinked. “Um. I don’t know. Still a bit sluggish.” Even if he wasn’t, he thought he wouldn’t want to get up just yet anyway. “Whoever took the Master knew what they were doing.”

A part of him worried for his old friend, but an even greater part of him worried for the people who had taken him; they couldn’t possibly know what, or rather who, they were dealing with.

“Were those the helicopters, then? You know, if you just brought me along you wouldn’t have to keep catching me up after,” Donna added.

He sighed. “I didn’t want something to happen to you when I’d just got you back. Confronting the Master is — well, I’m not sure I’ll—” More than anything, he didn’t wish to worry her. She didn’t deserve that on top of everything. “It might not end well,” he finally settled on.

“I know,” said Donna. “Gramps told me you think you’re dying.”

Wilf. Of course he had.

“I  _ know _ I’m dying, Donna.”

“Why, cause of some stupid prophecy? Dalek Caan said one of us was gonna die on the Crucible, and look where we all are now.”

He ought to hate how much a single word from her gave him such hope.

“It might still come true,” he cautioned her.

Donna rolled her eyes. “Yeah, if you keep throwing yourself into trouble without planning to make it, it will.” Her look turned more solemn. “Just don’t push people away. No matter what ends up happening, we want to help you. You don’t have to do it alone.”

It was a strange thing trying to swallow down a lump in his throat while lying on his back. “I suppose I’m...just not used to you being with me again. Doesn’t seem real yet.”

“I promised forever, didn’t I?” She reminded him. “There’s nothing that’s gonna keep me from being with you, Spaceman.”

He very nearly smiled. But his gaze fell to her arm laid over him and further still. The Doctor reached down and took up her hand.

“Nothing?”

Donna stared at the ring on her finger. “Well, I- I couldn’t remember then—”

“It’s alright if you love him.”

Her gaze snapped to his. “That’s the trouble. I’m not sure I do.”

He wasn’t meant to be happy about that. He was meant to help her make it right.

“Is it because he wasn’t along for the traveling?”

“I don’t think it’d matter. The person I was when we met, the person he wanted to marry, I just don’t like being that.” She shook her head. “I don’t like who I was.”

“Donna, really, it was still  _ you _ .” He finally did push himself up to sitting, which he should have done ages ago. “The traveling wasn’t what makes you brilliant.”

“No, but it made me better,” she said. “You know, you think I only helped you, and maybe that’s my fault for never saying, but you  _ changed _ the way I saw the universe. It’s more than me, and there’s so much I can be doing to make things just that much better, that much brighter. And I’d have never seen that without you.”

For once, the Doctor was absolutely speechless. He knew Donna loved the traveling, but he’d never dared to dream he had half as much to do with it. That he could have possibly repaid even a small amount of what she’d given him.

Donna’s lips quirked up in a smile. “So will you stop trying to tell me to go and get married? Cos I know it’s not what you want.”

“What?” Oh no. She’d figured him out. Was that good or bad? “Why- why would you think that?”

“Cos it’d put you on your own again,” she pointed out.

Oh. Right.

“Well, what if the worst does happen to me, and you’ve sent Shaun on his way? I don’t want you to end up on your own.”

“Look, if you die today I’m gonna be way too busy hunting this bloody nemesis of yours down and making him regret he ever resurrected himself to bother with getting married.”

He found himself chuckling despite his best efforts not to. It was useless trying to maintain a fatalistic attitude around Donna Noble; she just didn’t put up with that sort of thing.

“I’m sorry I left you behind,” he told her.

“You know how I feel about those sorrys,” she said. “You shouldn’t have done it, we both know that, so just don’t do it again.”

The Doctor nodded. “Right.”

He wasn’t sure which of them moved first, but they were hugging, and he was glad of it because he didn’t think he’d ever stop missing her hugs. The Doctor was struck again with the thought that this really wasn’t meant to be happening, but he pushed it aside. Maybe Donna was right; maybe it didn’t have to be all prophecies and predestined fates — excepting the one that always seemed to bring her back to him, of course.

So why not dream a little?

“Where do you want to go once all this is over?” He asked in her ear. “Felspoon? We could see Felspoon. Or we could meet Chaplin. We can do it all.”

“Yeah. But, Doctor.”

The Doctor pulled back at the hesitant tone her voice had taken on.

“If we need to leave right away, I understand, but if there’s a bit of time I should probably talk to Shaun.”

“Oh.”

“It’s not fair to him to keep him waiting around,” she said, twisting the engagement ring.

Trust Donna to always make the tough choice. He would sooner jump into the next adventure than sit down for a conversation that was bound to be painful to some degree. 

Nevertheless, he knew he ought to offer whatever aid he could give. “Do you need me to do anything? Help explain?”

“No, I just want to know if we have the time.”

“Well, I haven’t figured out how to track where the Master was taken. Or what they want with him. And the TARDIS is pretty far off.” He thought for a moment. “How about I go and get her, bring her back here, and then we can get started?”

“Are you sure? It’s not too far, is it?”

“It’s manageable. Anyway, it’ll give you plenty of time to talk to Shaun.” Not to mention it’d keep him well clear of Sylvia for as long as possible, though he thought it best not to say that aloud.

The Doctor heaved himself onto his feet and looked down at himself. “Where’s my coat?” He could’ve sworn he’d been wearing it. “And my shoes.”

“Over the back of that chair,” she said with a sweep of her arm. “Shoes there on the floor. Listen, if something happens on the way, you’re not just gonna rush off, are you?”

He looked back at her, alone now on the sofa, watching him as he prepared to leave again. It was more than a fair question. It was absolutely something he  _ would _ do, and she knew that just as well as she knew him.

But he could only expect Donna to forgive him for so much.

The Doctor finished the knot on his shoe, then crossed to where she sat and dropped to a knee. He took her right hand between both of his. “No rushing off, promise.”

She smiled down at him. “Thank you.”

“I’ll be back in time for breakfast,” he couldn’t resist adding with a grin.

Donna swatted at him with her free hand. “Oh, get off.”

He jumped up to his feet. “That’s not buyer’s remorse, is it? Forever’s a  _ long _ while.”

“Just ten minutes ago you were convinced you’re dying, now it’s eternity? You’ve changed your tune,” she remarked.

He shrugged. “ _ Well _ , Christmas with Donna Noble. How could I not?” It was certainly her specialty, after all.

She stood and moved past him towards the kitchen, though not before he caught the blush rising in her cheeks. “You’ll run out of compliments eventually. I’ll just have to soldier on till then.”

“Oh, right, well good luck with that.”

The Doctor left the Noble house and took the first few streets at a bit of a run, his energy at a high he hadn’t known for a long time. So he still had the Master and a prophecy to contend with; Donna was giving up her shot at a normal life just to be with him. He couldn’t let her down.

Death would have to wait a while.


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So I'll admit this update is more than a little overdue...sorry, folks. Mostly was debating how much I wanted to start changing right away so as to still have a plot but make sure that adding Donna had impact. I hope you'll all like what I've decided on, but I'll let you read instead of spoiling it. So thanks for your patience, and please enjoy!

Donna paced about the kitchen as the minutes dragged on. It was light out, but that hardly meant anything. Nobody ever got up early for Christmas. Which meant her plan to just get it all over with wasn’t exactly going to happen how she wanted.

Just because she’d decided it needed doing didn’t mean she was looking forward to it. Part of her wished she’d just run out the door with the Doctor and saved all the explaining for after all this evil Time Lord nemesis business. Surely the world would thank her!

Instead, Donna sighed and put on the kettle, then went back out to the sitting room to pace about there for a while.

It wouldn’t have been right. And anyway, it didn’t  _ feel _ right, running around with a ring on her finger from a man she didn’t know how to love anymore. Every time one of them noticed it there on her hand or brought it up, everything just got awkward and stilted.

Why it was that way for the Doctor, she could only guess. Probably nettled about having to share her attention with someone else, or worried she’d choose to remain home at the end of the day. As if!

To Donna, it felt like she’d done something wrong. Betrayed him or something. She had promised forever. Though it was his fault she was in this mess with Shaun, so really what did she have to feel guilty about? She’d break the news gently — or as gently as a breakup on Christmas could be — then everything could go right back to how it’d been. Her and the Doctor, best friends in time and space, nothing more. That was enough, wasn’t it?

The kettle whistled, and Donna rounded the corner out of the sitting room. “Oi!”

There was a woman in the kitchen. A woman Donna had never met standing right in her mother’s kitchen and blocking the way to the kettle.

“You have returned, Donna, but only just in time.”

“Excuse me? Who are you? How do you know me?”

Her unexpected guest was older, but in a dignified sort of way, brown hair only just beginning to show wisps of gray and dressed in a white skirt suit. She also ignored her. “Events have already begun to move. If you are not prepared, it will mean the end.”

“The end of  _ what _ ?”

“You must be ready to make the choice.”

She felt her face heat up. “I know, and I’ve chosen, alright? What’s it your business for?”

“I do not speak of the choice in your heart,” the woman said, “but the choice for this world. For the universe and time itself.”

“What do you mean?” God, if there was one thing Donna hadn’t missed it was all the speaking in riddles that tended to happen around the Doctor.

As if reading her mind, the woman added, “You must not tell the Doctor any of this. If you wish to save his life, he cannot know.”

Donna frowned. “Hold on, are you the one who told him that prophecy nonsense?”

“Donna? Is that you down there?”

She looked away at the sound of Shaun’s voice, which cost her. When she turned back, the woman had disappeared into thin air.

“What the  _ hell _ was that?” She said to herself.

“Donna?”

“In the kitchen,” she called out. Shaun padded in minutes later, still rubbing sleep out of his eyes. Oh, she really was horrible, wasn’t she?

“So...yesterday. That really happen?”

Donna nodded. “Yeah.”

He blew out a breath. “So what does this mean? You said you weren’t the same person that you were before. The person I know.”

“And I’m not. I mean, I just — Shaun, I don’t think this can work anymore. You and me.”

He didn’t look that surprised to hear her say it, but then again he didn’t look happy either. “Is it because you think I won’t like who you are anymore? Or that you don’t like me? Why can’t we try it out?”

“Because I don’t know how things would have ended if we tried out marriage like we were planning either. I’m not…” Donna squeezed her eyes shut. The truth it would have to be, even if she hated it. She hated the person she had used to be so much. “I liked you, Shaun, because you’re a good man. And that’s honestly hard to come by. But it wasn’t because I was passionate about your dreams or- or any of it. I said yes because I was scared of being alone.”

“And now you’re not alone because you’ve got this Doctor bloke,” he guessed, a deep crease in his forehead.

She winced. “I had a life out there. Out in the universe. That’s where my dreams are. And you should be with someone who’s not always wishing they were somewhere else.”

He looked down, his head bobbing in a slight nod. But then he met her eyes.

“Just tell me this: were you together?”

“No.”

Shaun didn’t seem to know whether to look relieved or not. Then he stared her down again. “Are you gonna be together?”

“I don’t know — no, probably not.”

“Then why can’t we—”

“We just can’t, Shaun.”

He fell silent for a moment. “So you do love him.”

Donna looked away, her mouth open but for once nothing to say.

“Even after he did whatever it was to you?”

“Look, if you want me to explain, then I don’t know.” She shrugged. “I can’t even explain it to myself.”

“Suppose they call it love for a reason.” He gave a heavy sigh. “Think I’ll just spend the holiday back at the flat, if that’s alright.”

“Sure,” she said quietly. As he moved to leave the kitchen it occurred to her, “Wait, I’ve still got the ring.”

He held up his palm. “Keep it. It was a gift.”

“Shaun, please just this once be realistic. There’s no telling when this recession’s gonna end.” She placed it into his hand then withdrew hers before he could try to pass it back. “I’ve troubled you enough without making you lose everything you spent on it. I’ll come by, once we’ve sorted out whatever this crisis is, and get my stuff. And I’ll keep paying my half of the rent until the lease is up.”

“You don’t—”

“No buts.”

“Right.” He paused, seeming unsure how to end this conversation. “Well then, good luck, I guess.”

“You too.”

A few minutes later, and the front door could be heard shutting on Shaun Temple. Donna’s eyes fell closed. It wasn’t that she regretted her decision, just that poor Shaun had been dragged into all this at all. Why couldn’t someone have stopped her?

Her mother’s voice had her eyes snapping back open a second later. “Who was that?”

“Uh, that was Shaun, mum.”

Her mother was dressed for the day and perfectly awake since she’d slept in. “Shaun? Where’s he gone?”

“He’s- he’s gone home. I broke it off.”

Just because it would be easier to get it over with didn’t make it any better for her ears.

“ _ What _ ?” Her mother stared down at her bare left hand in horror, then made an aborted step towards the front of the house as if she were about to chase her ex down. “Why would you do such a stupid thing?”

“Because it was the right thing to do. He doesn’t know me, the real me. He’d have no idea who he was marrying!”

“This always happens when  _ he _ shows up,” her mother declared, and Donna knew they weren't talking about Shaun. “He’s always ruining things for you!”

“Right, if by ruining you mean literally saving my life in the first instance and getting my life back in the second. Mum, honestly tell me what was so great about me and Shaun. Did I seem happy?  _ Really _ happy? Or was I just relieved to be off the market before I turned forty?”

“Well you’ll certainly still be on it indefinitely now. Broke off two engagements, dear Lord, what did I ever do?” Her mother stormed out of the kitchen, bumping into Gramps as he came through the archway.

“Hey, what’s all the commotion? Peace on Earth, isn’t it today?”

“Oh, a Merry Christmas indeed, dad,” her mum spat out bitterly. They both heard her stomping back up the stairs moments later.

He looked to her, and Donna sighed. “I ended things with Shaun.”

“Oh. Well, I figured that had to be coming. Don’t know why she’s surprised. Hey, where’s the Doctor?”

“Went to get the TARDIS. He should be back soon. I hope.”

The time seemed to drag on, however. They put on some music and Donna opened a couple of the presents she’d gotten. There wasn’t much to them, but then again she’d not been much of a person before yesterday.

Donna thought to make some margaritas to hopefully draw her mother back out, but she realized even with all the shopping she’d done the day before the one thing she’d forgotten was lemons. All they had in the fridge were oranges. Something told her that wouldn’t cut it, so she shut the refrigerator and decided to join her grandad out in the sitting room.

He’d unwrapped the present she’d bought him. It took Donna a moment to recall what it’d been. Some book, maybe a self-help thing?

Already having a feeling as to the answer, she asked anyway, “Do you like it then, the book?”

Her poor Gramps was so confused he didn’t even bother to try and sugarcoat it for her. “Joshua Naismith? I mean, what’d you get me this for?”

Donna threw her hands up in the air. “How should I know? Look, let’s just agree that I’m not responsible for any decisions I made while I didn’t have my memories. Clearly that me cannot be trusted.”

Current her was feeling right useless, truth be told, but fortunately just as the Queen’s Speech was about to start, she heard the familiar wheeze of the TARDIS engines.

“Oh, thank God.” Donna ran out the front door and met him halfway up the walk. “Right, we’re off then.”

But the Doctor caught her by both arms. “Hold on, I’ve got to talk to Wilfred.”

“Gramps? What for?”

“Well, I can’t track the Master myself, and I figure he’s the only one who can remember having those dreams about him, so that’s got to mean something. There’s no such thing as coincidences with your family.”

Reluctantly, she let him lead them back into the house, only Gramps wasn’t in the sitting room. They found him just coming out of his room.

Spaceman didn’t even give him time to say hello. “Wilfred, you’re the only one. The only connection I can think of. You’re involved, if I could work out how. Tell me, have you seen anything? I don’t know. Anything strange, anything odd?”

Donna abruptly remembered the conversation she’d had only this morning with the disappearing woman, but then the woman had said not to mention it. That didn’t really say one way or the other whether Donna ought to trust her, though.

Her grandad seemed to be struggling to come up with an answer as well. “Well, it was — no, it’s nothing.”

“Think-a-think-a-think,” the Doctor urged. “Maybe something out of the blue. Something connected to your life.”

“Well, Donna did give me this book.”

“Oh, forget the book,” she said.

The Doctor’s head whipped back and forth to look between them. “What book?”

“Here, I’ll show you.” Her Gramps walked back into the sitting room to retrieve it.

“It’s just some dumb thing that stupid me bought back when I couldn’t remember anything—”

“That’s the man. I was shown him by the Ood,” said the Doctor, taking the book from her grandad to stare at it.

Gramps looked just as surprised as she, though for different reasons. “What’s the Ood?”

“Aliens,” Donna answered.

“It’s all part of the convergence,” the Doctor continued. “Maybe? It may have been touching your subconscious.” He looked up at her, a slow smile spreading across his face. “You were still fighting for us, even then.”

A door opened upstairs. Her mum’s door. “Dad? Donna, what are you up to?”

Oh great. Of course her mother had decided to rejoin the festivities just now.

“She can’t see you,” Donna decided, grabbing hold of the Doctor’s arm and yanking him towards the back door, out of sight of the stairs.

Before she could shut it behind them, however, her grandad was slipping out, too.

“Gramps?”

“Well, I’d rather not have to explain to her where you’re going, if that’s alright.”

“You can’t come with us,” the Doctor said, looking more bewildered than anything.

Donna frowned. “And just why not?”

“Donna, it is going to be dangerous.”

They’d rounded the house, but just as they were reaching the street, her mum came out the front.

“You. Donna, dad, don’t you dare!”

“Any more dangerous than that?” Donna asked.

“Yeah, you’re not leaving me with her,” Gramps insisted.

The Doctor relented. “Fair enough.”

They all hurried inside, but while Spaceman ran right up to the console, her poor Gramps stood stock still just inside the doorway, hardly able to believe his eyes. Culture shock. She knew the feeling.

“Naismith. If I can track him down.” The Doctor typed something into the keyboard and glanced at the monitor before catching sight of her grandad looking around. “Ah. Right. Yes. Bigger on the inside. Do you like it?”

“I thought it’d be cleaner.”

“ _ Cleaner _ ?”

“Well, you’ve got to admit, it is a bit grunge,” Donna pointed out.

He looked at her with betrayal in his eyes. “I can take you both right back home.”

She didn’t believe him for one second. “No, you can’t. You need us.”

The Doctor deflated. “Yeah, alright.”

“Listen, Doctor, if this is a time machine, that man you're chasing, why can't you just pop back to yesterday and catch him?” Her Gramps asked as he finally came all the way up the ramp.

“No, it doesn’t work like that,” said Donna. “You can’t go back and do something you’ve already done or you’d have never done it in the first place.”

Spaceman had opened his mouth, likely to launch into some scientific ramble, but he stopped. “Right, what Donna said.”

Her grandad chuckled. “Well, that’s the way, isn’t it?”

The Doctor reached out and shook his hand. “Welcome aboard.”

“So, where are we headed?” She asked, hoping to steer them away from embarrassing her and further.

Spaceman rested his hand on a lever and looked to her. “Naismith Manor.”

—-

Wilfred truthfully wasn’t sure what he was meant to be doing here. Donna was back; surely that was all the Doctor needed?

But that woman from the church had shown up on his telly, calling upon him to act to save the Doctor’s life. Wilf was prepared to do just about anything for that wonderful man, though what had been asked of him weighed heavy on his mind, far heavier than the weight of the gun he carried hidden from the other two.

Donna had mentioned once in passing the Doctor didn’t approve of guns, and his granddaughter certainly wasn’t one for violence even if she respected him for serving their country. Perhaps he could tell her about the woman, for she’d only warned him not to speak to the Doctor. Between the two of them, they ought to be able to work out some solution that didn’t leave anyone hurt. Was it too much to expect a miracle for Christmas?

He was jarred from his worried thoughts by the Doctor’s strange ship giving a more final shudder than the previous ones and then ceasing its movement.

“Here we are,” the Doctor declared, and Wilf followed him and Donna down the ramp and out the doors.

“We’ve moved. We’ve really moved!” He’d known on some level they would, had even seen the ship disappear and fly before. But it was another thing entirely experiencing it himself!

Donna was keeping her eye on him as he marveled, though they both looked back when the Doctor asked them to hold on a moment. They watched as he pointed his key at the TARDIS, and it disappeared a second later.

“What did you do?” Donna asked, just as surprised as he was.

“Just a second out of sync. Don't want the Master finding the TARDIS. That's the last thing we need.”

He made as if to start walking, but Donna reached out for his arm. “You put the TARDIS a second out of sync?”

“Yeah, that’s what I said.”

“No, but hold on. Why was it so hard to move it a second out of sync in the Medusa Cascade? I mean what did you even need the subwave network for?”

The Doctor’s mouth worked for a moment with no ready answer. “Well, it- it’s not like I knew everything was a second ahead.”

“What does that even mean ‘a second out of sync from the rest of reality’?” Donna wondered. “Shouldn’t it just pop right back a second later?”

“Well, it’s still gone and it’s been a few seconds already,” Wilf pointed out, though it only left him more confused.

“And we should be going so we don’t get caught by anyone patrolling the area,” the Doctor decided, taking Donna’s hand to lead them along.

They left the stables and crept along the side of the building. “Very spies,” he thought he heard his granddaughter mutter. The Doctor smirked at her in return.

Wilf spoke as loud as he dared. “That book said he's a billionaire. He's got his own private army.” Every so often, he would pat his coat, checking to make sure his gun remained in place.

Wilf only just looked up and avoided walking right into their backs as the Doctor had suddenly pulled Donna against the wall, peering around the corner.

“Ever heard of asking?” Wilf’s granddaughter hissed.

The Doctor glanced down at her, looked about to motion for them to move, and then froze. “What happened to your ring?”

Donna didn’t quite seem to understand for a second. “What do you mean — I broke it off with Shaun, remember? I told you I was gonna do that.”

“You really did?” There was something like a smile playing around his mouth.

“ _ Yes _ . Is now really the best time?”

“Er, right. I mean no, it’s not the best time. Maybe after — but, uh, down here,” the Doctor said, gesturing to a doorway set into the archway they’d hidden behind. He took out something long and thin like a pen, and with the press of a button and a buzzing sound gave them the access they needed.

Wilfred waited until the Doctor had disappeared through the door, then turned to Donna with a grin. “He noticed, eh? That’s a good sign.”

“Not the time, Gramps,” Donna blustered. He gave a shrug and allowed her through ahead of him. They’d get it all sorted in time, he supposed.

Wilf caught up with the pair of them as the passage they’d been following opened up into a bigger room. Unfortunately, there was someone already in that room. She’d only just caught sight of them and wasn’t even allowed a moment to speak first.

“Nice gate. Don't try calling security, or I'll tell them you're wearing a Shimmer,” The Doctor warned her. “Because I reckon anyone wearing a Shimmer doesn't want the Shimmer to be noticed, or they wouldn't need a Shimmer in the first place.”

“Sorry, what’s a Shimmer?” Donna asked.

The woman shrugged. “Well, it’s no good asking me. I haven’t any idea—”

But the Doctor had pointed that funny pen at her again and hit the button. “Shimmer.”

With a sudden ripple, the woman turned all green with little spikes sticking from her now bald head. She hardly seemed surprised by it, either.

Wilf gasped. “Oh, my Lord. She's a cactus.”

“What’d you do that to her for?” Donna demanded.

The Doctor looked rather affronted. “Me? I didn’t do anything. That’s how she was born. I only lifted her human disguise.”

He moved to the terminal the woman had been looking at and put on his spectacles. “He’s got it working, but what is it? What’s working?”

Another man entered the room from a set of stairs. “What are you doing here?”

The Doctor didn’t even look as he pointed his device a second time. “Shimmer!”

The man turned into a cactus just like the woman had before.

“What, him too?” Donna frowned. “I thought we were fighting another Time Lord.”

“We are. Not sure why they’re here,” said the Doctor. He then turned to the two cactuses. “Now, tell me quickly, what's going on? The Master, Harold Saxon, Skeletor, whatever you're calling him, what's he doing up there?”

“Oh, Skeletor’s good. I’d rather stick with that than  _ Master _ — hold on, what would you call him Harold Saxon for?”

“Uhh, well, what — who are you two, though?” The Doctor pivoted away from Donna to ask the cactuses. “I met someone like you. He was brilliant, but he was little and red.”

The cactuses started going on about Voccis and Bloccis or some such, and Donna rolled her eyes.

“Look, this gate thing. What does it do, and how can someone do something evil with it?”

The cactus he supposed was a woman shook her head. “It’s not for evil. It heals. It’s a medical device to make people better.”

The Doctor didn’t seem convinced that was it, and as Wilfred stared at the screens the cactuses had been monitoring, a thought occurred to him.

“So that thing’s like a sickbed, yes?”

“More or less,” was the answer he was given.

“Well, pardon me for asking, but why’s it so big?”

“Oh, good question. Why’s it so big?” The Doctor repeated.

“What’s it actually do?” Donna reiterated. Her patience was running thin with cactuses, it seemed.

“It transmits a medical template across the entire population of a planet,” one of the pair answered.

“Oh, brilliant,” said Donna. The Doctor had already started running up to the main level of the house. “Come on, Gramps!”

Wilfred was having an awful lot of trouble keeping up with the two of them, but he did his best. Something about that gate was dangerous for the Earth, that was clear. He could only hope they weren’t too late.

The Doctor had burst into a room and shouted for everyone to stop what they were doing, but then a man who had been seated in the strangest looking chair leapt out with electricity streaming from his hands and landed inside the alien gate. Now that he had a proper look at him, Wilf recognized him. And he wasn’t the only one.

“Oh my God, it  _ is _ Harold Saxon!”

The man who looked just like their brief Prime Minister threw back his head and laughed.

“Yeah, I’d been meaning to tell you,” the Doctor muttered.

“He’s in my head,” said one of the men in the room. And Wilfred knew exactly what he meant.

“Doctor! Doctor, there's- there's this face.”

“What is it? What can you see?”

“Well, it's him. I can see him.” It was like his dreams, only worse.

The Doctor turned on his heels to ask, “Donna, what about you?”

“Well,  _ duh _ , I can see him. He’s right there!” Donna said, sweeping an arm towards the Master.

“But in your head, is he in there?”

“No. There’s nothing.” She placed her hands on Wilf’s shoulders, distracting him from that horrible laugh he could hear in his mind. “Doctor, what about Gramps? How do we stop it?”

The Doctor was working at some sort of terminal, but the news didn’t look good. “I can’t turn it off.”

“That’s because I locked it, idiot,” said the Master.

“Oi, watch it, Bleach Boy!” Donna barked.

Wilf thought he saw the Master make a face, but the Doctor was ushering him back into some glass box to swap with a man in a lab coat. As soon as he stepped inside, the Master’s face and his laugh went away.

“Radiation shielding,” the Doctor explained. Then he reached out with one hand. “Alright, Donna, you get in the other side.”

Donna’s hands went to her hips, a clear refusal of the offer. “Why would I do that?”

“Donna, you and Wilf should both stay in,” the Doctor insisted.

“Look, I can’t be stuck inside this thing, I’ve got to stay out here! I’m not seeing or hearing anything, and you need all the help you can get!”

“But Donna,” Wilf began.

“Gramps, I’m fine. Promise. Don’t know why yet, but I am. And he needs me.” She placed one hand to the glass, and Wilf touched his own to the same spot on the other side.

“Fifty seconds and counting!” The Master cheerfully announced.

The Doctor turned to face him. “To what?”

“Oh, you’re going to love this.”

A strange pulse of energy left the gate and spread outward. Wilfred watched, palms pressed to the glass, as everyone else began to shake their heads rapidly. As each stopped one by one, it became clear something had gone horribly wrong.

“What have you done? You monster!”

The whole room had turned into him. Men, women, race, it didn’t seem to matter.

The Doctor, however, only seemed to have eyes for the one person who had remained the same. “Donna, you didn’t change.”

“Forget me, Doctor, we’ve got to stop it!”

The alien blinked, rapidly shaking his head as if to clear the cobwebs. “He’s locked the controls. I can’t shut it down. It’s gonna spread across the whole world!”

“The human race was always your favorite, Doctor,” said the Master. “And now, there will be no human race. There will only be the  _ Master _ race!” He threw back his head once more for another laugh, which was echoed by all the other ones in the room.

“Donna, I’m sorry,” the Doctor was saying. “There’s nothing — Donna?”

Wilfred tore his eyes from the laughing Masters to realize his granddaughter had left the Doctor’s side. She hefted a chair and started to whack at one of the sides of the gate.

“No, no, no, what are you doing?” The Master seemed unable to move from his spot in the middle, but his eyes were widening as with each hit of the chair the loud hum of the gate seemed to quiet more and more.

“When the buttons don’t work, it’s time for a manual shutdown,” Donna said. “Think I’m gonna stand and watch you turn the whole planet into you?”

“Stop her!”

“Don’t you hurt her!” The Doctor darted forward.

Several Masters moved, first grabbing the Doctor and then Donna. Two were required to get Wilf out of the glass box.

“Conversion was only successful over fifty percent of the planet’s surface,” another Master announced.

The original Master scowled. “Donna, was it?”

“Leave her alone,” said the Doctor, quiet but with an undeniable edge to his tone.

“You think that’s up to you to decide? You couldn’t even be bothered to stop me! No, it’s always the  _ companion _ ,” the Master continued, pacing ever closer.

Donna was doing her best to stand tall even with her arms held behind her back. “You think you’re gonna scare me looking like a washed up Backstreet Boy?”

“ _ Something _ should scare you. The gate covered every inch of this building, this whole half of the planet. It converted every human...but not you.” The Master was using the scant inches he had on his granddaughter to loom over her. “And I want to know why.”

“You won’t touch her if you know what’s good for you,” said Wilfred. Even if he didn’t know how he could stop it from happening, he’d be damned if he didn’t try. If only he could get to his gun, maybe he could bluff their way out of here.

But the Master merely called to one of his copies, “Restrain them all.”

“Tell me we’ve got a plan,” Donna muttered.

The Doctor said nothing. And Wilf realized that there was no plan — not one that involved them getting out alive. Only yesterday this wonderful man had been convinced whatever encounter with the Master would lead to his death. Wilf still didn’t know how he was supposed to help save him as that mysterious woman in white had said.

But now it seemed it was Donna he should have been worrying about!


End file.
